The Legal Aid Society of
Santa Clara County (LAS) is a non-profit corporation founded in 1960 to provide free, civil legal services for those
low-income persons unable to obtain access to the judicial system through other avenues. As Silicon
Valleys economy has grown, the unique diversity of the area has made the needs of families in poverty
more complex.

Our representation ensures that our clients have equal access to the justice system and our outreach and
education programs provide the community members with needed tools to advocate for themselves and to
lead more independent and knowledgeable lives.

To meet this challenge
LAS has established the following services:

Family Law
- a fully staffed Family Law Unit, with four full time attorneys and two paralegal assistants that provide legal
services that include dissolutions, child custody and support, guardianship, conservatorship and juvenile law case
work. LAS is the only agency in the county providing comprehensive family law services to the indigent. Our family
law unit also provides comprehensive domestic violence victim legal assistance.

Fair Housing - staffed by an attorney and five housing counselors, the unit works to safeguard housing choices for families, children, the disabled and the homeless as well as a community education program.

Immigration and
Naturalization - to help in uniting families by providing assistance through the difficult immigration process, this includes
preparation and filing of petitions under the DACA, VAWA, U and T Visas and other affirmative relief.

We are recognized for our
unprecedented staff diversity. At our office, Spanish, Vietnamese, and Chinese are all spoken.

Due to the restrictions imposed by Congress on the delivery of legal services and limitations on eligible clients,
the LAS board of directors decided in 1995 not to seek continued funding from our major funding source, the Legal
Services Corporation (LSC). While a difficult decision, it was agreed by the board to be more beneficial to our
client community in order to retain the flexibility to address the emerging critical needs of our client community,
unhampered by the LSC and its regulations. Since that decision LAS has engaged in an aggressive drive to seek
additional funding sources and has allowed us to take on the greater challenges that face our client community.

LAS is guided in policy and fiscal matters by a 15 member Board of Directors which includes members from the
legal profession, business and client community.